NHTSA to close investigations for Ford, Jeep recalls

With both Ford and Chrysler’s Jeep recalls earlier this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will be closing their investigations into the Ford minivan and Jeep recalls, respectively.

The Ford recall was for nearly 200,000 2004-2007 Ford Freestar and its corporate cousin, the Mercury Monterey (both vehicles have identical powertrain and major mechanical components), in order to repair the third-row seat latches that could possibly rust in the wheel wells, which over time, could cause the seats to come loose in a rear or frontal collision. The agency stated that it was satisfied with Ford’s decision to recall the minivans.

The investigation had been going on for nearly two years, comprising of around 80 reports from registered owners complaining of having issues securing the third-row seats into place, due to the aforementioned rust occurring.

The majority of the Ford recalls occurred in the “salt belt” states, where road salt is frequently used to de-ice the roads during the winter. Consequently, corrosion on vehicles is generally higher than identical vehicles that are operated in more moderate climates.

However, the NHTSA did state that they will be closely monitoring an additional 100,000 vehicles that were not a part of the recall, due to them having “significantly lower failure rates.” Moreover, the agency had only received one complaint from the vehicles that were not recalled, but “will monitor complaints and take further action if warranted.” As of this writing, Ford has not received any reports of any injuries that have occurred, as a result of the defect.

The Jeep recall was for their 2012 Patriot crossover utility vehicle, with about 20,000 being sent back to the dealership for specific vehicles that were equipped with the side saddle fuel tanks that could have experienced a possible low siphon rate, due to malformed tubes. They had received about 64 complaints from owners complaining about the engine stalling, due to being unable to either start the vehicle, or experiencing delays in starting it up.

In all, approximately 114,998 vehicles were being investigated, but due to being satisfied with Chrysler’s (Jeep is a division of the Chrysler Corporation) decision to recall the amount of vehicles that it did, they have decided to close this investigation as well.

Could we see another Jeep recall in the future? If more complaints come in from the group of vehicles that were not recalled, it could be possible. Stay tuned here at the Examiner for any breaking updates!